Ibanez ts7 (tonelock) I'm sorry, all these pics are blurry because I used my phone's cam.

I bought this to fill out an order I was making a few weeks ago. First off, without making any modifications, this is one nice tubescreamer. In my opinion, it's nicer than the ts-9 inside and out. The wiring on the inside is top notch....better than most mass produced pedals I've opened....and it has a pretty strange layout consisting of 5 different PCBs and the fancy push in pots, which means that this pedal probably costs more to build than the ts9. It sounded as good as any stock tube screamer I've ever played, and costs less than half what the standard ts9 would cost. Plus it's got the tonelock system, and the 'hot' switch, which basically adds more gain and changes the EQ a little bit.

But, I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I modded the snot out of it. I started by replacing most (though not all) of the resistors in the signal path from 1/8w carbon film to 1/4 metal film resistors. I didn't mess with the resistors not in the signal path or those connected to the flip flop switching system. Replacing the carbon film resistors lowers the noise floor.

On the note of resistors, I also replaced the two resistors in the output buffer with '808' correct type/value. In this case, and only in this case, I used carbon comp resistors. The use of carbon comps in this location is purely mojo, but people seem to like it.

I also replaced almost all the electrolytic caps in the signal path with film caps. This gives it a little more transparent sound. electrolytic caps sound gritty to my ears. I used very high quality WIMA caps for this. The only place I couldn't do this was in the 'hot' mode part of the circuit...I just didn't have the correct values on hand.

In the case of the output cap, I replaced the electrolytic with a tantalum cap, which in my opinion, is the absolute best mod anyone can do to their tubescreamer. It smooths out the overall sound when the circuit is active, and seems to have no effect on the bypassed sound (this cap is located after the buffer and is the last thing your signal goes though on it's way to the jack...you signal is always going through it, even in bypass).

I added a little better bass response to the circuit...not too much, just a little extra 'umph'. And I smoothed out the taper of the tone pot a little bit (changed the electrolytic .22f caps with tantalum .15 caps)

Stock, this pedal has the much coveted jrc4558 chip, which is impressive since I don't think that comes stock on the ts9. But, I hate that chip, so I put in a socket and threw in a tlc2272, which is my personal choice here. If you hate it, that's why it's in the socket, add your own chip. Honestly, there isn't much of a difference sonically, but the tlc2272 feels like it has a bit better responsiveness. I didn't keep the jrc4558, usually these things don't survive desoldering, but you can find them only for less than a buck.

And, in the clipping section (the area of the circuit that gives it it's actual grit), I removed the stock diodes and added mosfets. Mosfets are what give the OCD and the newer fulldrives their complex sound. It adds a bit of a modern feel to the classic circuit.

There, that's all I've done. Here are some blurry, almost useless before and after pics. If nothing else it'll show you that the work was actually done.

All in all, this is now one excellent ts pedal. I'd keep it for myself, but I'm up to my neck in tube screamers anyway, and I always find myself in the need to spread some goodwill around here at CGR. It's basically a brand new pedal. I've even got the box, papers, and battery that came with it. I'd stack this up against any keeley or analogman modded ts9 any day of the week.

$65, shipped to the continental US. (60 for the pedal, parts, and a few hours of work, 5 for shipping).

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AXimus AXamillion AXington
First of his name, moderator of the guitars and other instruments forums, changer of journal titles, haver of long titular epithets.